Fragile
by Knight Fallout
Summary: Rose was alone, and frightened, so it isn't much of a surprise that she took up the first offer of company out of her infected village. If only her companions weren't able to kill her at any moment.
1. Chapter 1

I clamped my lips shut and stared straight ahead of me, in the hopes that it would stop me crying. It was cold, and all I wanted to do was hug my arms close to my chest but I couldn't. The jacket I was wearing, that I'd taken from some poor, unfortunate man who'd failed to fight off an infected, was practically soaked in blood. But it was all I had keeping me warm. I'd left home that morning, when it was sunny, wearing shorts, a tank top and a pair of flimsy sandals, because I didn't expect an apocalypse to break out while I went to the shops.

I forced myself to carrying on walking forwards. When the infection reached my small village, I'd rushed back to my house and locked myself in the bathroom, waiting for it all to go away. When I thought back to it, I couldn't believe how stupid I'd been. I waited for hours, and when it was completely silent outside, I left, and so had everyone else. I was alone.

I assumed they had all evacuated to the city to find help. I didn't know what to do. I had no means of transportation, apart from walking, but the nearest city was a good few miles away. So instead of going back to my house, like a normal person would, I started walking. It seemed like most people had managed to escape, but there were some unlucky people who hadn't, and were lying dead on the floor, with their killers next to them. I don't know what had killed them, people who were fleeing, I guessed.

I jumped when I heard a noise. It had been mostly silent, with only the wind and the sound of my sandals slapping against the stone pavement. I quickly realised that it was the sound of a mobile phone ringing. I looked around, and saw the faint glow of it in someone's hand. I ran over to it and answered the call.

"Oh my god, Nate, you're okay. I went to your house but you weren't there, have you already gone? Look, I'm at a service station not too far from Terthshire, where are you? I'll see if I can get the others to come pick you up. Nate why aren't you saying anything?" The woman on the other end of the phone gabbled at me.

"I'm sorry, but Nate's dead," I said in a small voice. The woman gasped.

"What? Are you sure? Oh no, no, no this can't be happening." She started crying.

"I'm still in Terthshire, and I need help, my name's Rose, please can you help me?" I asked quickly, but the phone call was terminated before I could finish speaking. I tried redialling the number, but she didn't answer, and I got so frustrated with the phone's touch screen that I smashed it against a wall. I wondered what I was going to do then. I had no option really, I had to keep walking.

I soon became so tired that it was a great effort to put one foot in front of the other. I had to sleep, if only for a few hours. I stumbled over to the nearest house and tried opening the door, and of course it wasn't locked. I would've been surprised if it had been. I walked inside and turned on all the lights inside the house. I used the bathroom, having a quick wash as I sensed it would be my last opportunity for a while.

I went into the kitchen and saw that most of the food had been taken; all that was left was some fruit in a bowl and ice cream in the freezer. I took all of this up with me to the bedroom and sat down on the bed, taking my jacket off and throwing it aside. I decided to have a look in the wardrobe, and the clothes inside it were all much too big for me, but I did take a clean jacket. I ate all of the food and then lay down on top of the blankets and tried to get some sleep.

I was unbelievably tired, but I was so on edge that I couldn't sleep. Every little noise from outside, a gust of wind, the patter of rain against the window, kept me up. Even the sound of myself breathing unnerved me. I looked at the clock on the bedside table next to me. It was half past three in the morning. It was winter, so it wouldn't be light until about eight o'clock. I didn't know what scared me more, the darkness, or the feeling of vulnerability I was getting from just thinking about sleeping.

I somehow managed to sleep, only for an hour, but it was something. I left the house and continued walking. It was still dark, and I still didn't feel any better, but I didn't have much choice. I was nearing the outskirts of the village, and coming closer to the next village. I wondered what the situation was there, the infection would have had to through to get to my village, and after seeing how rapidly it had decimated it, it was likely similar.

I got distracted by a scream that came from behind me. I turned around, but there was nothing there. I began to think I might be hearing things, and I turned back around only to see someone standing in front of me. Something would be more accurate, as this thing was not human, it couldn't have been.

It was tall, about a foot taller than I was, it had tumour like growths surrounding its left eye, and tongues protruding from several places. I backed away from it, and bumped into something else. I didn't turn to look at it, I was frozen by fear.

"Are you unarmed?" The thing in front of me asked, in a surprisingly normal voice. I nodded slowly, but the thing behind me still stuck its hands into the pockets of my jacket, and my shorts. I caught a glimpse of its hands, which appeared to have claws rather than fingers.

"Come with us," it said, the one in front of me. The one behind me pinned my arms back and urged me forward. I walked as it told me to, my heart beating fast and hard. What were they going to with me? Dozens of sick and twisted images crept into my mind, and as I was marched into a house, I couldn't help but let a tear roll down my cheek.

"You can let her go, Hunter, but lock the door," the tall one instructed the other. So the other was called Hunter. I remembered one of the more heavily mutated infected being called that on the news.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, in a high pitched, strained voice as I tried not to cry. The tall one half smiled, and sat down on a sofa and put its feet up the coffee table, followed by Hunter.

"You're going to help us. Name's Cyrus, and that's Hunter, and you?" It sounded so casual, as if this was an everyday conversation.

"I'm Rose. How can I help you?" I replied.

"I'm guessing you've noticed we ain't like all the other special infected. Nah, they're all mindless killers who're doing it for the fun of it. The strain of the infection we got only gave us the physical changes, but mentally, we're the same as we were before. But all these military people don't see it that way, we've gone to a few evac spots and they've just tried to shoot us sight. What we need is someone not infected, like you. You're going to convince 'em to take us as well," Cyrus explained.

"Okay. I'll help you," I said. I could see that no wasn't an answer, as they could easily kill me.

"That's what I was hoping to hear, and don't worry, we'll protect you on the way. Most infected won't even look twice if you're around us," Cyrus stood up and extended a hand. I shook it gingerly, as it was covered in boils.

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Because they won't smell you. You non infected have a unique smell, and if your stick close to us, we'll mask it. Hunter, go get her the clothes we put away." Cyrus clicked his fingers. Hunter stood up and went upstairs and came back a few minutes later with an armful of clothes. He dropped them on the floor in front of me.

"What are these for?" I tilted my head to one side. Had they been expecting me?

"For you to wear, doll face. They'll help disguise your scent." He winked at me. I smiled slightly. I picked some things up and ran off to get changed. I looked at myself in a mirror, and ran a hand through my dark hair. This wasn't how I expected things to happen, but I had somewhere to go, and I had someone to protect me. At least I hoped so.

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><p><strong>I've been working on trying to get this right for a while now, the first draft of this wasn't very good, and then I kept changing plot points, but I think I'm finally happy with it. <strong>

**For a little background: I'm pretty sure Terthshire is fictional, and this story is set in the UK.**

**I hope you guys enjoy it, and tell me what you think of it.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Right, we'd better start walking, we've got a lot of ground to cover," Cyrus said and walked towards the door. He opened it and I groaned loudly. "Come on sunshine, I ain't carrying you and I think Hunter over there'd drop you."

"I'm not that clumsy," Hunter muttered and stomped out the door, tripping as he did. I snorted with laughter and he turned his head towards me, so I clamped my hand over my mouth to stop myself.

"It's still dark out," I said quietly as we began our long journey. Cyrus put his arm around my shoulders and I tensed up.

"Don't worry, we'll look after you." Cyrus smiled. Something about what he said and the way he said it unnerved me. I shrugged my shoulders and he took his arm away. Hunter kept turning his head in my direction. I wasn't quite sure if he could actually see, he had his hood pulled over his eyes. I stopped and bent down, as if tying my shoelaces, and while I was doing that I looked up at Hunter. He didn't seem to have eyes. The area around them was red, with blood I assumed.

"Hunter, what happened to your eyes?" I asked delicately once I'd stood up and we'd resumed walking. He looked away from me and I gently put my hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"He's fine, and yeah, he can see sort of. It's just that he thinks it makes him look hideous. He should trying looking like me." Cyrus reached past me and poked Hunter. "Stop being such a softie."

"Shut up," Hunter said moodily.

Cyrus rolled his eye at me and said, "aw come on Hunter, you know you're a stunner and so do the ladies." He nodded at me.

"Oh yes definitely." I smiled broadly at Hunter who looked up at me. I'm sure he knew that I was only saying it to make him feel better, but he appreciated it all the same. I then had a thought. "Where are we actually going?" I asked.

"The coast. We're going to get on a boat, I hate helicopters," Cyrus said.

"But that's like two or three hours away by car!" I exclaimed.

"Pick up the pace then. Should take us about a week or so." He slapped me on the back and grinned. Walking was my most hated thing, but at least I had some suitable foot wear. I looked down at the scuffed trainers I was wearing. I wondered who they'd belonged to before; they were probably dead now anyway.

Hunter nudged me with his elbow. "How old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty three, why did you want to know that?" I replied suspiciously. His grey skin flushed red.

"Oh, you just look a lot younger, that's all. I didn't mean anything by it," he stammered. I smiled reassuringly at him, and Cyrus sighed.

"Ignore him, he's an idiot," Cyrus whispered to me.

"No, he isn't," I said. Cyrus raised an eyebrow at me.

"Wait 'til you get to know him, then you'll think differently." He stopped walking, and so did Hunter. I had walked ahead of them, but paused when I realised they weren't next to me. I swivelled around to look at them.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Tank." Cyrus's eye widened.

"We have to get somewhere safer, indoors." Hunter looked around frantically.

"How about that house over there?" I suggested, pointing in its direction.

"It'll do." Cyrus grabbed hold of my shoulders and pulled me close to him. Hunter stood in front of us, so that he was nearly touching me, and we walked towards it. I was scared, even though I didn't know what a Tank was, but Cyrus and Hunter's fear was enough to tell me that I should be. We reached the house; Hunter forced the door open by bashing his shoulder against it, even though it was most likely unlocked, and Cyrus pushed me in with such a force that I fell onto my face.

"What's a Tank?" I stood up and put my hands on my hips. I moved out of the way of the door when Hunter started pushing a table to block it. I went into the dining room and picked up one of the chairs, which was heavier than I thought, and put it on top of the table, with some help from Cyrus. Once we were done, I asked my question again.

"Something that'll try and kill you if it knows you're here. And it won't stop until either you or it is dead," Cyrus told me. I gave a small gasp and looked at the two of them for help. "But don't worry, we'll look after you."

"So when can we leave?" I cupped my elbows with my hands.

"When it goes away or dies. Those things die if they don't kill something; we shouldn't be waiting too long." Cyrus squeezed my shoulder. I could now hear a noise in the distance. An angry yelling, that seemed to be coming closer. Cyrus went to look around the house, and came back with a bottle with a rag in it, as well as a lighter.

"Why have you got that?" I asked.

"It's a Molotov, in case that Tank comes after us, I just light it and throw it and it'll catch on fire and burn to death," he explained. The Tank was definitely coming closer, it sounded like it was only a minute away from us. Hunter stood in front of me, his arm across my chest and he walked backwards up the stairs and so did I. Cyrus flicked the lighter on and off nervously and followed us.

The Tank was right outside, and it started pounding on the door. We were stood at the top of the stairs, watching as it effortlessly smashed the door down and pushed out barricade out of the way. The Tank was truly a terrifying thing, so tall it had to break down part of the wall above the door to get in, and its muscles had grown enormously. It had so much muscle on its upper half that it had to walk using its knuckles. It bounded towards us, and Cyrus lit the rag of the Molotov on fire and hurled it at the Tank. It burst into flames, and the Tank was soon enveloped, but it didn't even flinch.

Hunter grabbed my hand and pulled me to the window at the end of the corridor. He smashed the window and wrapped my arms his waist. I held on tightly as he leapt out the window, onto a nearby van and then onto the roof of the next house. Cyrus dropped out the window and pressed himself up against the wall. The Tank broke the wall down, still on fire, yelling in a mixture of pain and anger.

The Tank climbed onto the van, and I suddenly felt something wrap around me and pull me off the roof. I looked down and saw that it was a tongue, and it belonged to Cyrus. He bit his tongue off and removed it from me. He seized my hand and ran down the street, dragging me along with him. We were faster than the Tank, which still didn't seem to care that it was burning to death. Hunter caught up with us, and pushed me to the side, just out of the way of a slab of pavement the Tank had thrown.

Further up the street was a roadblock. We were trapped. I tried to run, but Cyrus was holding me too tightly. He and Hunter were standing still now, as the Tank ran at us, a towering inferno. I screwed my eyes shut and pressed my head against Cyrus's shoulder. The yells suddenly stopped. I cautiously opened one eye and saw the Tank, a few feet in front of us, lying on the ground, dead.

"How did you know that it would die?" I asked. Cyrus smiled nervously at me.

"I didn't. I mean, I knew it'd die soon, just not exactly when." He breathed out heavily and let go of my hand, flexing his fingers.

"Shall we carry on walking?" I put a smile on my face. Cyrus stared at me, and laughed.

"Yeah alright," he said, and playfully punched Hunter on the arm, "let's go, springy."

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><p><strong>I still have no idea what kind of accent Cyrus has, I know that he has one, just not which one.<strong>

**But anyway, I hope you guys like and tell me what you think of it.**


	3. Chapter 3

I tried to stay positive about the whole thing, but after two hours of walking I was beginning to wish the Tank had got me. I was very thirsty, but we'd left the village and I knew neither of them would want to go back. Cyrus didn't seem to be enjoying it either, as he was breathing heavily. Hunter was completely fine, however.

"How much longer?" I whined and stopped so I could sit down on the floor and take my shoes off which were rubbing uncomfortably on my heel.

"Thirty minutes, maybe, until we reach the next town." Cyrus sighed. It was cold, yet both of us were still sweating. I tensed at the sound of a gunshot. Then I realised what it meant, it meant there were other people, survivors. I jumped up, grabbed my shoes and started running towards it.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Hunter shouted, and started running after me, followed by Cyrus.

"They could help us," I yelled back. I spotted four people in the middle of a field and sprinted at them, tripping over but I hauled myself off the ground. I waved my arms at them, and they noticed me. Then a bullet flew past me.

"Get over here quickly!" one of them called to me. I fell over at their feet, and they helped me off the ground. I saw what they were shooting at, and I saw Hunter leaping about wildly.

"No stop, don't shoot him." I knocked the gun out of their hand. The other three lowered their guns, but still watched Hunter carefully.

"That's a zombie, it's going to kill you," they said, as if I hadn't noticed. She pressed a pistol into my hand. "You're going to need this."

"He won't kill me, he's my friend." I shook my head and gave her the gun back.

She looked at me like I was mad. "It's a zombie, now let us kill it and you can come with us," she said and looked through the scope of her sniper rifle. I covered my eyes with my hands, and felt a tap on my shoulder.

"You going to ask them for help yet," Cyrus whispered in my ear. The four people whipped around and raised their guns. Cyrus put his hands in the air and smiled.

"He's my other friend." I stood in front of him protectively.

"We're not traveling with a zombie. Good luck," the girl said and the four of them walked away. Cyrus put his hands on my shoulders.

"It's better it being just us three," he said. We carried on walking, Hunter joining us when we reached him. I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket and looked down at the floor as we walked. I liked Cyrus and Hunter, but I couldn't help being somewhat scared of them. That girl was right in some respects, they were zombies and they could kill me. It was hard to remember when I looked at them that they were normal people.

We reached the next town, and Cyrus suggested that we rest somewhere, pretending it was for my sake. The house we chose was locked, which was odd, but once Hunter had broken a window and we climbed through we could see that there was no one in the house.

"What time is it?" I asked and sat down on the white leather sofa. It was strange, I was breaking into people's houses yet it didn't matter.

"Half past two." Cyrus flopped down onto one of the chairs, and Hunter sat with me, on the far end of the sofa. I patted the space next to me and smiled. He drummed his fingers on his knee and shook his head.

"Come on, I don't bite." I playfully bit the air. Hunter shook his head again and then looked away from me.

"You don't? That's a shame." Cyrus grinned. I laughed, hoping he was just joking. But the look his eye indicated otherwise.

"So, uh, how do you two know each other?" I tried to change the subject.

"Well me and Hunter were sort of friends before, never really that close. He was just that little kid who would hang around with me and my mates," Cyrus said.

"I'm older than you," Hunter interrupted.

"You're like a whole foot shorter than me and you giggle whenever you hear the number sixty nine, you're a kid. Anyway, the day the infection hit we bumped into each other and started to turn at same time, together. And when we realised we were still normal, we decided that we weren't going to find anyone else, so we thought we'd just stick together," Cyrus finished explaining.

I wished I'd known the two of them before the infection. Then we probably could've been friends. Maybe more than that.

"I think I might go and get some sleep. Could you wake me up in a few hours?" I said and went upstairs. I pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms and when I saw the large, soft double bed, I jumped onto it and rolled off, it was so springy. I was quite tired, and couldn't be bothered to get up off the floor. The bedroom was right above the living, and I pressed my ear to the floor to listen to Cyrus and Hunter talking.

"Why do you keep flirting with her, she's obviously not interested," Hunter said to Cyrus.

"Just because you're not confident doesn't mean that no one else is. It's a bit of fun," Cyrus replied.

There was a pause before Hunter spoke again. "Cyrus, do you really think we'll be evacuated?"

"Why wouldn't we be? We're still sane, so they've got to help us."

"But we're infected."

"Shut up Hunter," Cyrus said sharply. I sat upright and leant against the wall, had they dragged me along with them without even knowing if their plan would work? What would happen to me if it didn't? I doubted whoever was running the evacuation process would be pleased with me bringing along two infected, even if I managed to convince them they were friendly.

I climbed up onto the bed and lay down, looking up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes, and soon fell asleep, dreaming of the many possibilities on how our journey would end.

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><p><strong>I would've had this chapter out yesterday, but I had to go to sleep because I'm back in school now. I don't know how this will affect my writing of this story, but hopefully it won't be too much. Also, later on in this story there will be minor romantic elements, but not enough to count as a whole genre.<strong>

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and tell me what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

It was dark when I woke up, and I was sure that when I'd gone to sleep it was still quite early in the afternoon. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and looked to the bedroom door, which was open. I couldn't remember if I'd closed it or not, so I didn't think much of it. I left the room and bumped into Hunter in the hallway.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I yawned and stretched my arms out.

"Cyrus told me that you said you want more sleep. I was just going to wake you up now," he said. I shrugged my shoulders and we walked down the stairs together. Cyrus was waiting at the bottom, leaning against the wall with his arms folded.

"Come on then, time to get moving." Cyrus linked his arm with mine. I didn't whether or not to pull away, but he looked so cheerful that I just couldn't. Hunter looked left out so I hooked my arm with his and all three of us left the house and continued walking down street, joined together.

I'd thought it had been cold during the day, but at night it was positively freezing. I felt most sorry for Cyrus, who had a short sleeved t-shirt on whereas Hunter and I both had jackets. I knew that the jacket I was wearing belonged to him, it was way too big for me and Hunter, and I had to assume that they didn't take it from someone else. I wondered about giving it to him, but then I would have been cold, so I didn't.

Cyrus stood rather close to me, while Hunter kept his distance, like usual. It was strange how quickly I was growing fond of them, but I suppose the alternative would have been being terrified of them. We had unlinked arms by then, and I noticed that Hunter kept glancing over at me and Cyrus.

"Hunter, are you okay?" I asked softly. He seemed caught off guard by my question.

"Sure, what makes you think I'm not?" he gabbled. I smiled, and so did he, nervously.

"Do you two sleep?" I changed the subject.

"Yeah, we both had a couple of hours when you were sleeping," Cyrus said and stretched one of his arms out.

"What about dreaming? I had a really weird dream, I was swimming around in coffee and I was being chased by a shark made of tinfoil. In order to kill it I had to get a tub of boiling hot custard from the bottom of the cup and tip it over the shark, but then it suddenly turned into my ex-boyfriend Noah. So I poured more custard over him." I gestured enthusiastically. Cyrus looked at me weirdly, but Hunter laughed.

"Your ex, huh? What was he like?" Cyrus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He was alright at first, with a few little quirks. Like he wanted me to text him every hour so he could know I was okay. Then I realised that he was trying to control my life, and I wouldn't play along with him so he broke up with me and stole my cat," I said. Hunter snorted with laughter, and then looked to me, smiling when I did.

"Any others?" Cyrus inquired casually.

"No, not really." I sighed. I heard my name being called, and I only saw who it was when they suddenly threw their arms around my neck.

"Rose, it really is you," Noah said, and stroked my hair. I mouthed the word "help" to Cyrus, who pulled Noah away from me.

"And what do you want, Noah?" Cyrus smirked at the look of confusion on Noah's face.

"I came here for my girlfriend. To rescue her. Oh Rose, I was worried you'd be infected when I found you, but you're not. You're still just as beautiful." Noah caressed my face. I swatted his hand away but he just smiled fondly at me.

"I don't need rescuing," I said, "wait, how did you find me?"

Noah held up his phone, on the screen was a map and he pointed to the red blip and said, "The tracking device, of course."

"Okay psycho, you be on your way now, she doesn't want you around." Cyrus took the phone out of his hands.

"Why don't you mind your business and run along now, huh zombie?" Noah put his hands on his hips. Cyrus crushed the phone in his hand and dropped it on the floor.

"I'm not a zombie." Cyrus clenched his fists.

"Well you're not human, are you?" Noah stepped closer.

"Guys, stop it." I tried to interrupt, but they ignored me. Noah reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol. I was surprised when Hunter pounced onto Noah, pinning him to the ground and knocking the gun out of his hand.

"Get off me!" Noah yelled. I could hear another yelling as well. Hunter hauled Noah off the floor and pushed him further into the road, right into the path of an infected that charged into him and carried him away. It crashed into the first building in its way and smashed Noah against the wall. Hunter and Cyrus both grabbed one of my hands and we ran. I looked over my shoulder to see that Noah was still being slammed into the wall, so much that there was a large dent in it.

"What was that?" I asked, panting once we'd stopped running.

"A Charger. I heard it yelling, and we had to get rid of him," Hunter said.

"I don't normally say this, but thanks Hunter. You actually saved me." Cyrus clapped Hunter on the back. Hunter smiled, and then they turned to me and paused.

"Thank you, both of you. I really didn't think he'd just appear like that. I don't even know how he managed to place a tracking device on me." I forced a smile on my face and trying to hide the fact that I was shaking from how scared I was during that.

"You're welcome. You've got a rubbish taste in guys, if you don't mind me saying," Cyrus said.

"Are you calling yourself rubbish?" I joked. Cyrus laughed, and Hunter looked up at him, somewhat jealous.

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><p><strong>This chapter would've been out sooner, but I had two exams during the week, and I was getting my hunter cosplay ready for a convention I'm going to Saturday.<strong>

**I hope you like it, and tell me what you think of it.**


	5. Chapter 5

Our journey was uninterrupted as we continued walking, and it soon reached evening. We selected a house to stay in for the night, and boarded up the windows and doors. Well, Cyrus and Hunter did, meanwhile I tested out the television. I was disappointed to find that it didn't work, and when we all sat down, we found we didn't have much to talk about, except for what food was in the kitchen. As it turns out, there wasn't any food that wouldn't give me food poising, and so our conversation quickly ran out.

The three of us sat in silence, but I enjoyed it, it was comfortable. Cyrus had his feet up on the coffee table and his hands behind his head. He was the only one making a noise, though he couldn't help his wheezing and coughing. It came with the infected. I looked over at Hunter, who was curled up in the corner of the sofa, sitting as far away from me as possible. I wasn't sure why he did that, but I didn't ask. Hunter never responded well to personal questions.

"I think he's sleeping," Cyrus said quietly. I got up and crouched down in front of Hunter. When I looked underneath his hood, I could see that his eyes were closed, and he was breathing steadily. The dried blood on his face was still unsettling, but it was nice to see him so peaceful. It made him even more human.

"Should we just leave him?" I asked, and sat back down in my seat gently.

"Nah, I'll take him up to bed." Cyrus stood up and stretched his legs out. He picked Hunter up in his arms, muttering something when Hunter groaned sleepily. It was so strange to see Cyrus acting so tenderly to Hunter. Normally, Cyrus was quite boisterous with him, but now he was treating him like a child. Or a lover. Although Cyrus said that they were just friends, there was something about the way they acted that made me think differently.

When Cyrus had carried Hunter upstairs, I heard a loud thud, followed by Hunter yelping. "What was that for?" Hunter said angrily.

"Ah, just go to bed, sleeping beauty," Cyrus replied. Hunter mumbled something, and Cyrus laughed, and then left the room, closing the door behind him. As he walked back down the stairs, I tried to act casually, as if I hadn't been listening. He sat back down in the chair opposite me, returning to his original position.

"Are you tired?" I asked. I'd never actually seen him sleep, but I assumed that he did it at the same time as me.

"Not really, are you?" he asked back.

"A little, but I don't get much sleep. I'm too afraid." I cupped my elbows, and drew my legs close to my body. My jacket was on the other side of the room, and I couldn't be bothered to get up and get it.

"Afraid of what? Us?" Cyrus narrowed his eyes at me.

"No, not at all! Of other infected, the actual infected who would try and kill me. Like Tanks. I always get worried that one of them is going to just break into the house and kill me. What would be there to stop it?" I burbled, desperately trying not to offend him. In truth, I was scared of him. I was still scared that he or Hunter might turn fully, not that I'd ever say that.

"Don't worry about it. We'll protect you, remember?" Cyrus smiled. There was still something about his smile that unnerved me.

"I just can't help thinking about it."

"You need something to take your mind off it." He raised his eyebrow suggestively. I struggled not to visibly recoil at the thought. While I liked his personality, most of the time, his appearance was physically repulsive. Even thought I'd gotten used to it, somewhat, the idea of becoming intimate with him made me want to gag.

"Maybe I should go to bed; I'm more tired than I thought." I stood up clumsily, tripping over my own feet. His tongue shot of his mouth, and grabbed my wrist. I shrieked loudly, and he pulled me closer to him.

"Don't be like that, I'm sorry. I was just joking," he apologised. I looked anxiously at him, and he let go of me. I rubbed my wrist, and shuddered at the slime left on it.

"It's fine, it's fine. I just need some sleep." I forced a smile on my face, and stumbled out of the room. My arms and legs were shaking badly, and I nearly slipped going up the stairs. I opened the first door I saw, closed the door behind me and leant on it. I exhaled deeply, closing my eyes tightly and trying to steady myself. I made my way over to the bed, and it was only when I flopped onto the bed tiredly, that I realised Hunter was in it. He screamed, like any Hunter would if it'd been hurt, and leapt out of bed, pushing me onto the floor at the same time. I scrabbled to my feet, and rushed to the light switch. I turned it on, and saw Hunter clinging to the wall.

"Rose! You scared me," Hunter said pointlessly. I put my hand over my mouth to try and hide my laughter. He let go of the wall, and tumbled onto the floor.

"Sorry, I forgot you were in here. You scared me as well." I went over to help him up. He was hesitant to accept my hand, so I took hold of his arm and pulled him up.

"Well goodnight, then." Hunter dusted himself off, tugging his hood down further.

"Hunter, what was Cyrus like before the infection?" I asked. Hunter paused for a moment, chewing on his lower lip.

"It feels like it's been ages since then. He was pretty much the same as he is now, except not as... aggressive." Hunter looked down at the floor. He suddenly breathed in sharply, as if just realising something, but he didn't say anything. I didn't know what else to say or do, so I just said goodnight and left the room, but it felt like there was so much I could've done.

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><p><strong>Bet you weren't expecting this. I've had plans about continuing this for a while, but I wasn't sure how to pick up from where I left off, considering it's been nearly six months. This actually happened by accident, I was intending to write it as a one shot, and then it evolved into a proper chapter. This is probably written very differently from the previous chapter, but I won't rewrite it until I've completed the story. If that happens.<strong>

**Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.**


	6. Chapter 6

I'd lost track of how long I'd been travelling with Cyrus and Hunter. I knew it had been a few days, and I assumed that we were around halfway to our destination. When I woke up, it still wasn't light out, but I didn't want to go back to sleep, so I slipped out of bed and tiptoed downstairs. Cyrus had fallen asleep on the sofa, and I stood in the doorway, wondering whether or not to wake him. I decided not to, and instead went into the kitchen.

Sitting on one of the counters quickly grew boring, but there wasn't much else I could do, other than search around the house and see if I found anything interesting. Even though there was nothing stopping me, I still felt bad about possibly doing it. I needed to remember that laws and morals didn't really apply anymore, but I suppose I just wanted to cling to some semblance of normality.

"Good morning," Hunter said quietly, startling me. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, nibbling his lower lip nervously. I wondered if it hurt him, because of his fangs, but if it did, he didn't show it.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked. I was struggling to think of things to say.

"Not really, but that doesn't matter," he replied, and looked down at the floor. I hopped off the counter and walked over to him. He didn't seem to notice, and flinched when I gently touched his upper arm. I jerked my hand back quickly, and smiled at him instead.

"Why didn't you sleep well?" I looked concernedly at him. I wanted to look at his expression properly, as he hesitated, but since we were roughly the same height, I couldn't do it without bending down and making it obvious.

"Just bad dreams and stuff. It doesn't matter; I don't really need sleep anyway," he muttered and folded his arms across his chest. I glanced over his shoulder, and into the room behind him; Cyrus was still sleeping. I cupped Hunter's face with my hands and made him look at me. His cheeks flushed bright red, and for the first time, he looked me in the eyes.

"Tell me about it," I said softly. He opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. A look of pain suddenly flashed over his face, and he pulled himself away from and ran up the stairs, tripping as he did, and running on all fours as fast as he could. Normally, I may have laughed fondly at his clumsiness, but I just felt sad this time. I didn't understand why he acted that way with me. I decided I'd wake Cyrus up, because at least I didn't make _him_ feel uncomfortable.

"I'm awake, you don't need to hit me anymore," Cyrus said once I'd woken him by nudging him repeatedly. He rubbed his eye with one hand, and covered his mouth as he coughed with the other. "Is it even daytime yet?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked." I sat down in the chair opposite him, and he looked vaguely disappointed that I hadn't sat next to him, but I'd done that for a reason. "Cyrus, why is Hunter so..." I struggled to find the right word to describe him.

"Irritating? Annoyingly shy? Dreamy?" Cyrus suggested. I wasn't sure if his last suggestion was a joke, and I didn't know if I hoped it was or wasn't.

"Well shy, but only around me. If I even touch him, he practically runs away from me." I sighed and shook my head.

"Because you're pretty, and he's a social disaster when it comes to pretty girls. You think he'd be good at it, considering how many came up to him, since he's such a good looking guy." Cyrus smiled to himself.

"You think I'm pretty?" I asked, trying to ignore what he'd said about Hunter.

"You're gorgeous. If only we'd known each other before, y'know, when I didn't look like this."

"Yes, we could have been such good friends. Of course, we can still be friends now, but we could have done normal things. Like watching TV together. I miss TV." I folded my arms, looking at the television that no longer worked.

"Who said anything about just being friends?" He looked directly at me, smiling sinisterly. I forced myself to smile back at him, and his expression softened back to normal.

"So, uh, should we get going? Hunter's awake, but he's upstairs," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Sure thing. You go get him." Cyrus motioned for me to go, and I did. I was worried as to what Hunter would be like, considering how desperately he'd ran away from me. Thinking back to what I did, I was a bit too forward with him, but I was just trying to be friendly and kind to him. Hunter had locked himself in the bathroom, and I knocked on the door.

"Hunter? We're setting off soon," I told him. There was a pause before he answered.

"I'll be down in a few minutes," he said. His voice sounded strange, strangled almost.

"Okay, and Hunter, I'm sorry." I waited in case he wanted to reply, but he said nothing, so I went back downstairs. As I did, I heard the sound of glass smashing, and Cyrus swearing loudly. I ran into the living room, and saw that the television screen had been cracked, and Cyrus had splinters of glass in his hand, which he was picking out. He saw me looking, and laughed.

"What're you looking so scared for?" he asked, as if nothing had happened.

"What happened?" I exclaimed. Hunter came running into the room as well, and stared in shock at Cyrus. He looked at both of us like it was us who'd done something stupid and crazy.

"Just an incident, now aren't we meant to be going?" Cyrus pulled the last piece of glass out of his hand, and casually walked over to the door. Both Hunter and I followed him, incredibly confused. Something I failed to realise at the time was that Cyrus didn't bleed at all. I should've noticed it, but I was too busy focussing on the how moment it seemed like Cyrus was in danger, Hunter came running. Perhaps I was reading too far into it, but it was at least something to think about, and to distract me from what was really going on.

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><p><strong>Why is it whenever I say that updates might slow down, because of exams, I seem to write a lot more? Oh well, that's not neccessarily a bad thing.<strong>

**I'd like to thank my friend for helping me, by reading over my chapters for any spelling/grammar errors, you are awesome, and so is everyone who reads this.**


	7. Chapter 7

Both Hunter and I were trying to pretend like there was nothing wrong with Cyrus. As we continued walking, I tried to think of anything except that, but it still plagued my mind. There could have been a perfectly reasonable explanation. I couldn't think of one, but it was still mildly comforting. Something finally came about that distracted me properly; it was the sound of someone crying.

"Please tell me I'm not the only who hears that?" I asked, looking around for the source.

"Hey it's a Witch; we haven't seen one of those for ages. I want to go look at it," Cyrus said. Like me, he couldn't figure out where it was. So, he asked Hunter, "You've got good hearing, where is it?"

"I don't know, but it'd take up time trying to find it, and we need to keep moving, right?" Hunter stammered.

"You're no fun. Fine, if you won't tell me where it is, I'll find it by myself." Cyrus started walking to the left, climbing over the wall around someone's house. Hunter looked to me nervously, and then followed after him. He struggled with getting over the wall, since he was shorter than it. After several failed attempts, he took some steps back, crouched down on the floor and leapt over it.

I couldn't do that, so instead I took a run up at the wall, and jumped at it, just managing to grab onto the top. I pulled myself up, surprisingly easily, and walked along the wall around to the back garden. I spotted Cyrus and Hunter standing in the middle of the road. Cyrus was stood next to the thing that was crying, the Witch, while Hunter kept his distance.

I hadn't actually realised how tall the wall was, until I looked down to the ground as I prepared to jump off it. In retrospect, it would've been easier to just lower myself down to the floor, but that would have been sensible, and instead I jumped off, and landed flat on my face. I lay there for a few seconds, just to catch my breath, and then stood up. I'd badly scratched my hands, and had ripped up the knees of my trousers, as well as my actual knees. I brushed myself off, my only consolation being that I now had the authentic apocalypse appearance.

I jogged over to Cyrus and Hunter, but stopped when Hunter shouted at me to do so, and the Witch started to growl. "If you go anywhere near the Witch, it'll kill you," he informed me. I backed up further, and the Witch resumed its crying.

"Oh, boo-hoo, what are you crying for?" Cyrus asked the Witch. It didn't even look up at him, and he sighed angrily. Even when crouched, he still wasn't at eye level with it, so he sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. "Are you ignoring me?" he asked, and still got no response.

"Just leave it alone, Cyrus," Hunter said, and dared to take a step closer.

"Not until it stops ignoring me." Cyrus poked the Witch, and then stood up again, and put his hands on his hips. I tapped Hunter on the shoulder, and he made a noise of recognition.

"I'm going to get some food from that house, okay?" I pointed the house out, but he continued looking at Cyrus. He nodded, though he was barely acknowledging me. As I walked over to the house, I glanced back to Cyrus. He was still bothering the Witch, generally acting like a spoilt child when someone wasn't paying attention to him.

The door to the house was still open, and I opened it carefully, listening hard, but I couldn't hear anything inside. I made my way to the kitchen, and opened various cupboards until I eventually found three packets of different types of cookies. I took all of them, and put them in the spacious pockets of my jacket. I also grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, because I felt like I should have something healthy.

Just as I was about to leave, I was distracted by a painting on the wall. The scene looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. I noticed a signature in the bottom left corner, and saw that it was a painting by one of my old friends, who was an artist. I hadn't seen them for a while, so I didn't know if this was their house, or they'd just sold one of their paintings. I looked closer at the image, and then realised what it was.

It was a painting of a picture that had been taken at a summer camp, which I went to with some of my friends when I was ten. I spotted myself in the background, helping someone up who'd fallen over. I had a vague memory of them, but all I could really remember was that they were a few years older than me, and that we roasted marshmallows together.

My admiration of the art was interrupted by the sound of Hunter shouting. I ran outside, just in time to see Hunter catch Cyrus's hand, as he went to hit the Witch. The two stood frozen, and so did I. The Witch had finally taken notice of them, and its sobs lessened as it looked up at them. Cyrus stared blankly at Hunter, and then shook his head, and tried to take his hand back, but Hunter was still holding onto it. I think he would've stayed holding it, had he not glanced over at me. He let go quickly, and hid his face embarrassedly.

"Hey Rose, where did you go?" Cyrus asked, sounding completely fine. That was what worried me the most. If something had been even slightly different, I could ask him about it, but he acted like nothing was wrong, it seemed as if he didn't know, so asking him would be pointless.

"Oh, I just went to get food," I said. I too was pretending nothing was wrong, because I desperately wanted that to be the truth. Not just because we were so close to being safe, but because I'd grown so fond of the two of them, and I didn't want anything to change. I momentarily wondered about not being evacuated and staying with both of them where we could do what we wanted. It was a tempting thought, but I doubted that either would agree with me. It had all been Cyrus's idea, so I assumed he wouldn't give it up, and Hunter always looked like he wanted to get out of this placed as fast as he could.

I just wish that I knew what I wanted.

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><p><strong>I've been unsuccessfully trying to write this chapter for the past few days, and then I somehow managed to write this incredibly easily.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and thanks for reading this. Let me know what you thought of it, if you like. Remember that constructive criticism is always welcome.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: Character death, mild gore/violence**

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><p>It was so quiet in the room, as neither Hunter nor I wanted to say anything, and Cyrus was at the other side of the room, having found a working laptop. The screen cast the only light in the room, as the sky was overcast that night. We were in an old library, because apparently our situation wasn't enough like a horror movie already. I was sat on a hard wooden chair, unable to get comfortable. Hunter was looking through the books on the shelves, holding them very close to his face as he tried to read.<p>

Cyrus sighed as he shut the laptop, since it had presumably run out of battery. He got up and walked over to where Hunter was, looking over his shoulder. Hunter hadn't noticed, and he jumped when Cyrus pointed to something on the book.

"Don't do that!" Hunter angrily shoved the book back into its place on the shelf, and Cyrus just laughed, stopping when he had to cough.

"It was pretty funny, wasn't it Rose?" Cyrus asked me. I nodded eagerly, not wanting to disagree with him. "See? Now cheer up, you're startin' to get on my nerves."

"Sorry, sorry," Hunter replied, shaking his head. He stayed looking at the shelf, running his finger up and down the spines of books.

"What're you sorry for? I ain't really angry with you." Cyrus frowned.

"I know, I'm sorry." Hunter clenched his fist as he realised he'd apologised again. Cyrus hit him lightly on the back of the head, and then wandered off again. Hunter came over to me, and sat down on the floor next to the chair. I joined him, crossing my legs.

"I'm worried about him," I whispered, leaning forward.

"Me too. But what can we do?" He turned his head to the side, not looking at me.

I tried to think, as I chewed my lip. "I don't know," I said eventually.

"Rose, I've been thinking, maybe... maybe it'd be better if you weren't with us."

"What?"

"I don't know what's wrong with Cyrus, but I just don't want you to get hurt. And you'd have a better chance of being rescued. Remember when we met those other survivors? They would've taken you with them if it weren't for us. You could be safe by now," he said, his voice getting quieter.

"But I _am_ safe with you. I couldn't survive out there by myself. I need you both." I tried to take hold of his hand, but he pulled it away.

"You don't need us, we're only going to put you in more danger." He lifted his head up, but still not quite meeting my eyes. I shook my head, and stood up, not wanting to talk about it anymore. We were so close, and if there was even a miniscule chance of them getting helped as well, I was sure as hell going to take it.

The night seems to last forever, as Hunter isn't talking to either of us, and I don't know what to say to Cyrus. After what must've been hours, I announce to both of them that I'm going to sleep, and I go to the part of the library that has carpet. The carpet was scratchy, but it's marginally better than the wooden floor which had already given me a splinter.

It surprised me how quickly I fell asleep, but I kept forgetting just how exhausted I was. I wake up several times, because of some noise outside. It started raining at some point, and there was at least one instance of thunder. After that, I nearly managed to settle into sleeping properly, but then I was awoken by something else.

The noise isn't outside this time, it's inside. Footsteps, growing closer and closer to me. Heavy breathing, wheezing, though I could barely hear them above the sound of my own heartbeat. I slowly sat upright, looking around the room nervously. I opened my mouth to call out, but my throat dried and I couldn't even let out a squeak.

Then there was a shout, and a scream, my scream, as something wrapped around my waist and started pulling me. I struggled, kicking my legs out, but then my arms were pinned to my side. Then another set of footsteps, running towards me. The thing around my waist is severed, and I fall to the floor. I catch my breath, and then look at it. It's a tongue.

"Rose, are you okay?" Hunter rushed to my side, trying to help me up. He was trembling almost as much as I was. I turned around, and saw Cyrus walking up to both of us. He pushed Hunter out of the way, and slashed at my face, cutting my cheek with his claws.

Hunter was up again quickly, and he tackled Cyrus to the ground, pinning him down. Cyrus tried to attack him, and resisted when Hunter attempted to restrain him. Hunter fought back, and I couldn't watch any longer. I covered my eyes, but I couldn't cover my ears. I heard everything, the shouting, the screaming. Hunter was trying to speak to Cyrus, but it was useless. He wasn't listening.

The noises soon stopped, and I peered through the gaps in my fingers. Hunter was still on top of Cyrus, breathing heavily. Cyrus wasn't moving. I slowly removed my hands from my face, and crawled towards them.

"Hunter?" I said gently, hovering my hand above his shoulder. He held his hands up and looked at them, and I gasped. His hands were covered in blood. Cyrus' blood. I gingerly grabbed Cyrus' arm, and tried to find a pulse. I couldn't.

Hunter stood up, looking at Cyrus' body. His breathing began to quicken, and he bolted out of the library, and ran down the street. I followed him, unable to catch up, and he ignored me when I called his name. Then he suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, and I nearly collided with him. He dropped to his knees, and stared ahead blankly.

I knelt down in front of him, and though I couldn't see most of his face, I could still see the tears running down his cheeks. I forgot how horrific he looked, and how scared I was, and I wrapped my arms around him. He cried into my shoulder, and I wasn't sure if I was crying, or if it was just the rain beating down on us.

"I'm sorry, Hunter, I'm so sorry," I whispered into his ear. He cried harder, and I squeezed him tighter.

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><p><strong>So, hey, it turns out I'm still around. I will finish this story one day. It doesn't have much longer to go, so perhaps before the month ends? I'll try.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is always welcome.**


	9. Chapter 9

The rain stopped before we got up. I was holding onto Hunter so tightly, that I was sure I was making dents in his skin. When I pulled away, he rubbed his eyes, leaving a smear of blood on his face. I went to wipe it off, but he recoiled from my touch, and shook his head. He slowly rose to his feet, and looked around.

He took a deep breath, and said, "We should keep going. We're not far."

"Are-are you alright?" I asked. Stupid question, of course he wasn't. But he seemed to have recovered quite quickly, though I knew he was just pretending for my sake.

He didn't say anything, and neither did I. We both continued walking, and I stayed a few steps behind him. I told myself it was because he needed space, but in truth, I was kind of scared of him. I tried my hardest not to let it show, but I think I failed in that. I nibbled the skin around my thumb, and froze every time he looked back.

We had to duck into a nearby shop when we heard the voices of people. Standing in silence with him was excruciating, so I thought of something to say.

"What was his last name?" I asked. He looked at me confusedly for a few seconds, and then realised.

"Day. Cyrus Day." Hunter sighed, and then turned his head towards me. "This isn't your fault."

"How do I know that? How I do I know he wouldn't have turned, if I wasn't there?" I said, my voice growing higher pitched.

"It would've happened sooner or later. Please, don't blame yourself."

I opened my mouth, but decided against saying anything. Nothing I could say would help. After a few more minutes, we concluded that it was safe to leave, and resume our journey. It was surreal to think how little time had passed since I joined up with them. It couldn't have been little more than a week, yet it felt like months. It felt like I'd _known_ them for months.

I'd never seen someone die before. All my family and friends were still alive. Maybe. They were probably dead now. I was beginning to wonder what the point of any of this was. Even if I did get rescued, what would be waiting for me? I had nothing, except Hunter.

I finally understood how he felt.

Perhaps I should've told Hunter that I didn't want to leave, that I'd much rather stay with him. He'd tell me that I couldn't do that, that I shouldn't throw away the rest of my life for him. And that Cyrus' death would have been for nothing. I couldn't do that, but maybe Hunter would come with me. I was getting just as delusional as Cyrus had been, of course Hunter couldn't come with me. He'd be shot on sight. No matter what, this wasn't going to end well.

"Rose," Hunter said suddenly, startling me. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" I asked, and quickened my pace so that I was walking alongside him.

"For dragging you into this. If we'd just left you alone, then maybe you'd be safe by now." He looked down at the floor, and swallowed hard.

I stared at him incredulously. "If you'd left me alone, I'd probably be dead by now."

"And that's worse than this mess?" he asked.

"Yes," I said firmly, and he didn't argue. Ten minutes of silence passed before I said, "How much further away are we?"

He stopped to look around. "We'll be there tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I repeated.

"If we ran, we'd be there today," he said, sounding so dull lifeless. I hesitated, and then reached out and placed my hand his shoulder. He didn't pull away, or flinch. He didn't even react.

"We'll walk, slowly." _So I can spend more time with you_, I added silently.

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><p><strong>A very short chapter, I know, but next chapter will be final one. I'd intended this story to be a little longer, about twelve chapters, but I cut out a couple of scenes because they felt like filler. And for some reason, every story I've completed has been ten chapters. All two of them.<strong>

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.**


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